


First Order Studios

by the_fluff_awakens



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: First Order Studios, Go ask your mom, Jealous Kylo Ren, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, Oblivious Hux, Probably a little OOC, So why am I even writing this?, Take Your Fandom to Work Day, There is also no porn, There is no plot, Where all your favorite homicidal villains work as photographers instead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:59:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6692359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_fluff_awakens/pseuds/the_fluff_awakens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux works as the long-suffering manager of the portrait studio, First Order Studios. Ren is the studio's best photographer whose sole mission in life seems to be to make Hux's job that much harder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Order Studios

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to Take Your Fandom to Work Day.
> 
> There really seems to be no plot to this, I'm afraid. Just a lot of fighting and snarking and taking photos. They're gonna' get their acts together eventually and start making out at some point, but that probably won't be for a while.
> 
> How come Dopheld is the only one who has 2 names in this studio?

"Goddamnit, Ren!" Hux slammed the phone down furiously, glowering at the other man across the room. It was early morning, not even 8 o'clock, and First Order Studios was currently empty except for the two figures on opposite sides of the still dark front office. For some bizarre reason, he'd scheduled Ren to to work the same shift with him every day of this week, but he couldn't quite remember what that reason was. He was glad for it now, because he can personally berate him for his insufferable behavior towards the newer recruits.

"What now?" Ren asked, looking up from switching lenses on the camera in his hand. He was sitting on the front desk—not on the chair in front of it, on the actual desk, crowding the computer, telephone, and various sample photo books on display with his hulking figure. It was a good thing the studio wasn't opening for another hour.

"That's the third trainee who's quit on us because of you!"

"Which one's that now?"

"Joy!"

"Oh, I remember her. Short, annoyingly smiley face?"

"Also the only one of our trainees that actually had some background in photography," Hux gritted out, his fists clenched.

"Yeah, she was a shit assistant," Ren said flatly, returning his attention to his camera. "Could barely reach the lights. Moved too slow."

Hux resisted the urge to growl, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sat back in his chair. He took a few deep breaths before facing his computer and clicking on the day's schedule.

"Well, see, here's the problem, Ren," he said, gesturing at the screen. "You have a shoot scheduled in two hours, Phasma and Thanisson don't get in until noon, and Dopheld has to man the front desk."

"I don't see the problem," Ren said, getting up from the desk gracefully. It annoyed Hux to watch him effortlessly straighten up, his long legs unfolding, and not even needing to hop a little from the tall desk.

"Who's going to assist you?" Hux challenged, crossing his arms. He sure as hell wasn't doing it, he didn't get promoted to branch manager just to fucking assist an arrogant surly photographer like Ren. He hadn't even held a camera inside a studio in months, but he'd told himself it was a sacrifice he could accept. There was no way he was going to be Ren's fucking assistant when he should be the one shooting.

"I don't need an assistant," Ren shrugged, smug as ever. He disappeared behind the small partition that blocked Hux's view of a part of the front office, hitting several switches that turned on the lights. 

"Oh yeah?" Hux huffed, looking at his screen again. "Family of six, with twin toddlers and a dog?"

That got Ren's attention, who peeked at him from behind the partition with a kind of disgusted look on his face. "Oh shit, the O'Briens. That's today? Fuck."

And then he gave Hux a _look_ —eyebrows raised, lips quirked.

"I guess _you're_ going to have to assist me, then, Mr. Manager."

"Fuck that," Hux said, reaching for the phone. "I'm going to see if any of the remaining trainees can come in today."

Ren just smiled knowingly, walking past Hux's desk and heading for Studio A.  


* * *

  
"It's too low, Ren!" Hux argued, turning the knob on the fill light and adjusting its angle. "This isn't a fucking fashion shoot! It's a family portrait session. These settings are too fucking dramatic."

They're standing inside the bigger of the two studios, Ren having already set up the soft box and umbrella to his liking. 

"Whoa, hey, don't fucking touch my light!" Ren said angrily, nudging him away from the light and turning down the settings again. "I don't try to tell you how to do your job, do I?"

"No, because you wouldn't have any clue how to do my job."

The O'Briens were scheduled to appear any minute now, and Hux had failed to convince any of their trainees to come in. Shamara had a class, James feigned being sick, and a very honest Finn openly refused to spend his day off assisting Ren. Hux, though impressed by his candor, resolved to put him on closing duty for the rest of next week.

So now, Hux had no other choice but to assist Ren. Dopheld's childlike face had quivered in fear as he'd held back tears when Hux had suggested he manned the front desk in his place instead. He really could have ordered Dopheld to assist Ren, but he had just graduated from being a trainee two weeks ago, and Hux didn't want Ren scaring him off.

"Please, managing schedules and paying people," Ren muttered.

"That's not-"

"The O'Briens are here," Dopheld's floating head said from the front of the studio before disappearing again behind the dark curtain that led to the front office.

"Pull down the white background, Mr. Manager," Ren said, smirking.

Hux resisted the urge to throw a small plastic chair at him before toeing his shoes off and walking to the front of the studio. He looked up to check the colors before pulling on one of the chains. Ren tugged on the end of the paper sheet, pulling until it covered most of the floor. Hux then climbed a few steps up the ladder standing just outside the white sheet, and reached up to turn on the spotlight hanging on the studio's ceiling, pointing it at the paper background.

"Go kneel in the middle, I want to check my settings," Ren ordered, obviously enjoying this newfound power over Hux. 

He stomped to the center of the floor, stopping a few steps away from the soft box and the umbrella and grudgingly dropping to his knees. His anger may or may not have caused him to drop down harder than he intended, and now he was sure bruises were forming on his knees. He flinched against the flashing lights when Ren took a couple of shots without even looking through the viewfinder before checking the output on the camera's monitor and shaking his head.

"Jesus, Hux," he muttered, grabbing the WhiBal card from his back pocket and tossing it to Hux. "I swear your hair and skin alone can break cameras."

"Oh, great, let's make fun of the pasty ginger," Hux said, rolling his eyes. He'd heard all of this before, back when he had been a kid. He'd been called a lot of hurtful things in the past, and his schoolmates could be quite creative when they wanted to be. Holding the small card under his chin, he scowled all throughout Ren's test shots. 

"I'm going to go talk to them, first," Ren said, looping the camera's strap around his shoulder. "Get some of those white blocks, we'll use them for chairs. Two small ones, two taller ones."

Hux seethed as he dragged the white blocks into position and vowed to book every horrible shoot for Ren. He arranged them angrily, cursing when he almost ripped the sheet with the corner of one block.

He walked back to the umbrella and adjusted the light again, just a smidge, now just trying to prove a point more than anything.

"Alright, if you'll just remove your shoes," Ren was saying from behind the curtain, and Hux stepped away from the light, standing near one of the containers where they kept their props. 

Ren drew back the curtain, ushering in the family. "This is my assistant, Hux," Ren said, and Hux did not appreciate the way the word 'assistant' sounded coming from his lips. "He'll be helping us today."

To Hux's astonishment, Ren wasn't such a bad photographer. His demeanor was totally different behind a camera, more relaxed and open, which put the family at ease. Even the dog, a gigantic golden retriever, seemed to obey Ren's instructions.

"Hux?" Ren called from where he was sprawled on his stomach on the floor, the white blocks now gone, leaving the family sitting on the white sheet. The parents were on their knees, hands over the shoulders of the teenaged kids who sat cross-legged, while they all watched the toddlers playing with the dog.

"Yeah?" Hux asked, stepping closer and looking down over Ren's shoulder as he examined his shots.

"Be a chap and lower my umbrella's settings?" Ren smiled, turning his head to look up at him. "Two notches."

They shared a meaningful look, Ren's saying, _fucker, I know you touched my lights again!_ , and Hux's saying, _damn straight I did, look at those beautiful shots!_ before Hux complied and changed the settings back. Ren had gone a whole set and a half before reverting to his own settings, and Hux felt he won that one.

Ren walked the family out of the studio once the shoot was done, and Hux could hear them talking in front as he put props and chairs away. He'd just turned off the lights and pulled the white sheet up when Ren's head poked in through the curtain.

"Thanks for the help, boss."

As he put his shoes back on, Hux wondered if Ren had said that sarcastically, but it didn't really sound like it.  


* * *

  
A half hour after the shoot, Hux watched from his desk in the back of the front office as Ren entertained the O'Briens. He'd asked them to give him thirty minutes to download the photos and do some minimal tweaking. He'd also done a few collage layouts as well as frame layout samples. It wasn't standard practice, but doing so usually encouraged the clients to order more prints, sometimes even ordering frames from them. It was considered a big accomplishment when a photographer sold a frame, and Ren, much to Hux's selfish annoyance, almost always managed to do so. He wasn't really all that irritated about this, if he was being honest, as their branch was always the highest earning branch because of Ren.

The phone on his desk rang, drawing his attention from where the family was fawning over their photos.

"First Order Studios, this is Hux," he answered, almost mechanically.

"Hux, it's Phasma."

"Please don't tell me you're not coming in today," Hux grumbled, lowering his voice when Ren's head jerked towards his direction. "I can't...I'm going to lose my mind."

"No, no, I'm about to leave my place now," Phasma hurried to explain. "I just wanted to ask if you could help me with my shoot later."

Hux turned to his computer where the day's schedule was still open. He scrolled down to find the 3 o'clock appointment: _Mr. & Mrs. Linden, Maternity Shoot, Phasma._

Their Training Manager, Phasma, for all her innate talent behind the camera, was notoriously insecure when it came to her maternity shoots. It had turned into a real problem because she was the only female senior photographer, and most would-be moms preferred to work with her, usually after seeing her interacting with the kids she usually worked with. Children liked her, despite her intimidating height, because she had a way of being authoritative while also being fun and playful at the same time.

"I opened today," Hux sighed into the phone, though he knew he couldn't say no to Phasma, even through the phone where he couldn't see her big blue eyes. "Plus I had to assist Ren. Do you know how annoyingly tiresome that was?"

"I know, I know," Phasma pleaded. "But help me anyway?" She didn't even try to convince him beyond outright begging.

"Fine," he huffed. "But you're buying next time we go out."

"Thank you, thank you!"

The line went dead, which was very typical of Phasma. She never quite learned to say goodbye on the phone.

The O'Briens are now at the front desk, Dopheld drawing up their receipt and talking with one of the twins. Ren had disappeared inside one of the studios again, accompanied by new clients—an elderly couple about to celebrate their anniversary, the schedule informed Hux—and he started working on rearranging the shifts for the rest of the week, now having to accommodate for Joy's leaving. He foresaw even longer overtime hours on his part, at least until the semester ended and Shamara could pick up some of the slack.

"Hey, Hux?" 

He looked up from his computer to find Dopheld standing by his desk, looking a little pale.

"Whoa, what's up?" He got up and pushed his chair closer to the younger man. "Sit down, you look really bad. Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine," Dopheld said, waving the chair away. "It's just that I haven't had anything to eat today, and I was wondering if I could take my break. I know we're short, I can eat at my desk."

"What? No, don't worry about that. I'll man the front desk. You go to the back and eat something."

"Thanks, Hux."

"Next time, speak up sooner, will you?" Hux reprimanded him as he headed for the front desk. "I won't have you fainting in front of people." He made a mental note to tell Dopheld about the hidden compartment under the front desk where Phasma liked to stash granola bars for moments exactly like this.

He had only been at the front desk for five minutes when a tall slender man dressed impeccably in a dark blue pinstriped suit, light blue shirt, and a dark tie walked in. He was all limbs, his torso and hips lean, but somehow did not look gangly at all. He had short cropped blonde hair that curled at the tips, an easy smile, and kind blue eyes that his outfit accentuated. He was almost painful to look at.

"Hi, welcome to First Order Studios!" Hux greeted. It was their standard greeting whenever people walked in, but Hux couldn't deny that the enthusiasm in his voice wasn't fake like it normally was.

"Ah, a fellow Englishman," the tall man said, his smile growing wider. "My name's Jonathan."

Hux shook the hand he extended over the desk, returning his smile. "Hux. How can I help you?"

"Do you guys do head shots?"

He might have known this man was an actor. Or at least trying to be one.

"We do just about everything," he answered, pointing to one of the photo books on the desk. "You can check out some samples, if you want."

Jonathan picked one up at random, flipping through the photos and nodding appreciatively.

"I'm about to go on a round of auditions, and I've been told I need to have some head shots taken, do several different sets to show some range."

"We normally do around two to three sets for most shoots," Hux explained, looking over his shoulder when he heard Ren's approach. 

As usual, the man looked surly, eyeing Jonathan with a sneer on his lip. Thankfully, Jonathan was still busy looking at photos. Ren squatted next to Hux's chair, unlocking the small cabinet under the front desk where they kept their cameras and other smaller equipment, and started looking for something.

"This is quite good," Jonathan commented, turning the book to show Hux a close up shot of a newborn baby with one eye closed, making it look like he'd just winked at the camera.

Hux smiled, feeling smug when he sensed Ren looking up at the picture as well. "I actually took that," he said, ignoring Ren's irritated huff.

"Did you? Brilliant," Jonathan smiled back, nodding his head. "Alright, you've convinced me. Can we do it this afternoon?"

"Okay, let me just check," Hux said, turning to the computer on his right. "There's a free slot this afternoon at half past 3."

"Perfect," Jonathan said, putting the book down just as Thanisson walked in, followed by Phasma.

"Thanisson here will be your photographer," Hux said, gesturing at the young blonde as he shrugged out of his coat.

Thanisson smiled and walked forward, shaking Jonathan's hand before excusing himself to follow Phasma to the back room to punch in.

"I thought you might do the shoot, actually," Jonathan said in a low disappointed voice.

"Oh, I assure you, Thanisson is a very good photographer," he said hurriedly as he typed in the appointment.

"Yes, but has he taken any photographs of winking babies?" Jonathan joked, then flashed an open-mouthed smile/laugh hybrid. It was actually quite adorable.

"Hux is the branch manager, he doesn't do basic shoots anymore," Ren butted in harshly, slamming the cabinet door shut, before walking back to the studio, a light meter in hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jonathan apologized, eyebrows quirking up in worry. "I didn't know."

"Don't mind Ren," Hux said, waving his hand dismissively even as he felt his cheeks burning in embarrassment. "I actually would do it, except I'm working with another photographer on a maternity shoot at 3 o'clock."

"Ah," Jonathan said, nodding his head. "Okay, I'll be back this afternoon, then."  


* * *

  
It wasn't for another 2 hours before Hux was finally able to take a break, Dopheld back at the front desk, Thanisson in studio A with another family, assisted by Phasma. He went to the empty back room, filled the mug he kept in one of the cupboards with freshly-brewed coffee and stepped outside where he liked to take his breaks. Ren was already sitting on one of the four chairs around a circular metal table, his own mug of steaming coffee sitting next to a plastic container holding one half of a thick sandwich, the other half currently shoved up his mouth.

Hux took the seat opposite him without a word, taking a sip of his coffee before opening one of Phasma's granola bars.

"Is that all you're having for lunch?" Ren asked, mouth disgustingly full.

"Of course not," Hux answered, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his trouser's pocket and holding it up before taking a bite out of the bar.

"You're not serious," Ren said, taking a drink as he swallowed his gigantic bite. "We've been here since 8 o'clock!"

"Oh, believe me, I'm aware."

"Here," Ren muttered, already taking another bite of his sandwich, pushing the other half closer to Hux.

"I'm good, really," Hux assured him, taking out a stick of cigarette as he chewed on the last bite of his measly meal. To be honest, he was never really big on meals, sometimes even resenting the few minutes he had no choice but to waste on them.

"Just take the sandwich, Hux," Ren sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Fine," he relented, sticking the cigarette back in its pack. "Thanks," he added when he realized how ungrateful he was being.

Hux felt self-conscious as Ren watched him take a small tentative bite, looking away when the bigger man licked sauce from the corner of his mouth.

The sandwich was pretty good, Hux had to admit, looking down at it after taking another bite. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he tasted a cheesy tomato sauce, some meatballs that were stuffed with...were those quail eggs?

"What _is_ this?" Hux finally asked after his third bite.

"Good, right?" Ren was smiling proudly, like a little kid presenting his stick figure drawing to his parents.

"You made this?" He didn't mean for the question to sound so incredulous.

Ren nodded, finishing his half of the sandwich. He watched Hux take another bite of his before returning it to its container and pushing it back to Ren.

"That's all I can eat," Hux said, covering his mouth with a fist and stifling a burp.

"Are you serious?" Ren asked, amused. "This is why you're so skinny."

"Oh really?" Hux said, lighting a cigarette. "I hadn't realized."

Ren watched him blow out a line of smoke, brow furrowed before starting to eat again. The rest of their break was spent in silence, Ren scowling and chewing on his monster sandwich while Hux smoked and drank his coffee.  


* * *

  
"Have you tried using the soft box as a background?" Hux asked Phasma while they waited in Studio A for the Lindens to arrive.

"How do you mean?" Phasma asked, looking up from the camera in her hand.

"Here," Hux said, dragging the rectangular soft box closer to the back part of the black sheet they had pulled down to use as their background. He turned it around so that it faced forward, pointing to the studio's entrance. He went around and turned the settings high. Then, he pulled the umbrella closer, fiddling with the settings and pulling it lower, facing the soft box. He stood in front of the soft box, stepping back so that he was almost touching it.

"Take a picture, close. Fill the frame with the white of this," Hux said, thumb pointing over his shoulder.

Phasma took a couple of shots, then checked the photos, Hux joining her and looking over her shoulder.

"Ahhh," Phasma smiled, nodding her head. "That's a nice little effect."

"You can do one set like that later."

"The Linden's are here," Thanisson said, poking his head inside the studio. His eyes drifted to where the lights were positioned. "That's a new one," he muttered before walking back to the front office.

"Go on and talk to them," Hux said, repositioning the lights to where Phasma set them up earlier. "I'll redo your lights."  


* * *

  
"Oh, that's just lovely," Phasma crooned at the Lindens. Mrs. Linden was on her feet, facing her husband as he knelt on the floor, kissing her exposed belly. 

They're now on their third set, the first being the usual husband-hugging-the-wife-from-behind-while-they-both-hold-her-swollen-belly that couples always asked for, the second a traditional Phasma set up where she made the couple lie down on a huge mattress draped in several silky sheets, their legs intertwined, wife's long hair loose around their heads. Hux quite liked that setup, and Phasma's height made it easy for her to shoot them from above.

She checked her monitor and caught Hux's gaze, who walked to her side to look over her shoulder.

"What's off?" she muttered under her breath, keeping her lips in a tight smile so the couple wouldn't hear them. "Something's missing."

"Maybe a little more reflection over here?" Hux asked, same smile on his face, nodding as he indicated the spot on the monitor with his pinky finger.

"Yeah, I think that's it."

"I'll grab a reflector from the other studio," Hux mumbled, having gone through the shelves and containers in the studio earlier and not finding one. He patted her shoulder before disappearing behind the thick curtain that separated Studio A from Studio B.

Hux stopped in his tracks when he found Ren in the smaller studio, fiddling with the lights while Jonathan waited patiently, sitting on a stool in the middle of the room.

"Sorry," Hux said when both of them turned to look at him. "Just here to grab a reflector."

Jonathan smiled politely at him, and Ren completely ignored him, taking a shot of Jonathan from the hip to test his settings.

Hux spotted the circular reflector on the other side of the room, and he walked past Ren, discreetly asking, "Thanisson?"

Ren pulled the camera up to his face, closing one eye as he looked through the viewfinder. "His clients are still going through their photos," Ren answered when Hux passed him again on his way back to Studio A. "Okay, tilt your head a little to the left, Jonathan, towards the umbrella," Ren instructed. "Okay, perfect."

Hux wanted to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing Ren not being a total dick to a client. He was still marveling at the vast difference of Ren's attitude while he's shooting when he returned to Phasma's studio, smiling at the clients as he knelt a few steps away from them to hold up the reflector.  


* * *

  
Phasma ended up using Hux's suggested setup last, shooting Mrs. Linden on her own. When Phasma asked if she was okay with taking her top off, Hux left the studio to give them privacy, heading to the back room to grab some coffee.

When he returned to his desk in the front office, Ren and Jonathan were going through their photos, looking rather awkward with their long legs folded around their chairs. Jonathan was sitting back, index finger rubbing against his bottom lip, as Ren, slumped forward with his shoulders rounded in and knees restlessly bobbing up and down, scrolled through the photos. 

Hux went through his emails, most of them from his boss, Mr. Snoke, some from his trainees submitting their assignments. First Order Studios is the kind of workplace that gave out assignments to newcomers, if only to see how dedicated they were to the job. Hux thought subjecting them to Ren's mood swings was enough of a test, as proven by Joy and the two other trainees who quit before she did, but whatever. He was reviewing Finn's submission and was just typing out a reply ( _Good job, as usual. Still on closing duty next week, though._ ), when Ren whistled loudly.

Hux looked up to find Jonathan and Ren staring at him.

"Well, if that isn't rude," Hux grumbled, getting out of his chair and approaching them. "Yes, Ren?"

Jonathan smiled up at him, and from that angle, his eyes really did sparkle, didn't they?

"I was just telling Jonathan that his prints won't be ready until next week," Ren said, clearing his throat loudly.

"Yes, I'm afraid we don't print them here," Hux explained. "We send out orders to our printers on Thursdays, and they deliver them the following Monday."

"Ah, that's unfortunate," Jonathan said, his smile faltering a little.

"Were you in a rush?" Hux asked, leaning against the desk next to Ren's.

"I have a few auditions lined up this weekend, and I have nothing to give out."

"Let's see," Hux said, turning to Ren. "Which ones have you chosen?"

He walked over to stand on Ren's other side, one hand resting on the back of his chair, the other on the desk next to the computer, and bending at the waist to peer at the screen. Ren showed him three shots, each taken from a different angle and with slightly different lighting, all of which were beautiful. The first one was a full body shot, Jonathan in his blue suit as he sat on a stool, showcasing his long legs. The second was a half body shot, and he wore a polo shirt/sweater vest outfit that would look cheesy on anyone else but didn't on him, his hands in his trouser pockets. The third, which was Hux's favorite, was a close up shot of Jonathan in a heavy coat with the collar popped up high, obscuring most of his face but his eyes and straighter-than-a-ruler nose as he looked over his shoulder. Not entirely the norm as far as head shots went, Hux thought, but they really were gorgeous photos. He might even end up getting a modeling contract out of them.

"Well, I suppose I could put a rush on these," Hux said, straightening up, looking down at Ren and raising his eyebrows at the look he gets. "What? I _could_ ," he insisted. He turned to Jonathan and smiled. "The reason we take so long to print them, apart from the courier schedules, is because our post production team edits them before they're sent out. Nothing major, just color adjustments and background cleaning. Incidentally, none of Ren's photos need any touch ups."

Ren ducked his head in embarrassment that he covered up for by pretending to look at an invisible speck on his black boot.

"Really?" Jonathan asked, sounding rather impressed. "They really are great photos already."

"I'll send them over to the printer's at the end of the day, tell them it's a rush, and we'll contact you as soon as we get them. We'll probably get them on Thursday, at the latest, when the courier comes by to pick up the orders for next week's delivery," Hux said, smiling down at Jonathan. 

"Fantastic." 

Jonathan stood up, and shook Hux's hand, then looked down at Ren, who was still sulking in his seat, as if they weren't just talking about how great his photos were. "Thank you, Ren," Jonathan said, extending his hand.

For a minute Hux thought the hand was going to be ignored, and he released the breath he was holding the moment Ren shook it.

"Dopheld will assist you now," Hux said, extending his hand towards the front desk. "Have a good day."

"Thank you."

Hux watched Dopheld and Jonathan for a moment before turning around and finding Ren glaring at him.

"What?" Hux asked, heading back to his desk. "Give me the flash drive with the files before you leave."

"You've never put a rush on prints before," Ren muttered, angrily clicking on his computer's mouse.

"I've never needed to," Hux insisted. "There's a difference. Can't you just take the compliment, Ren? Christ!"

Ren huffed as he snatched the flash drive out of the usb port before tossing it to Hux. He had to scramble to catch the lanyard attached to the drive with one hand, his other hand holding his coffee up to his mouth. He gave Ren the angriest scowl he can muster over the rim of his mug before reaching for the phone to call the printer's.  


* * *

  
As was customary for Hux, he left the studio an hour after his shift ended, leaving Phasma and Thanisson to close up. They didn't get paid for working overtime, but were instead allowed to offset those hours for other days. The way he was going, he could not show up for work for an entire month if he wanted to. Of course, he never wanted to. He didn't like being idle, he always had to be doing something. He also never liked leaving anything unfinished, which often resulted to staying late, alone in the studio, even when he'd opened that day.

Surprisingly, he caught Ren getting on his gigantic bike at the parking lot, apparently having stayed past his shift as well. Hux nodded at him on his way to his car, trying to ignore the voice in his head that said, _Oh crap, Ren looks good on a motorcycle!_

"Why do you have the drive?"

Ren's voice sounded weird, and Hux looked over his shoulder to find that he'd put on his helmet, which looked otherworldly in and of itself. It was matte black and covered his entire head, dark surface broken by a few silver lines that frame the area where the visor should have been. No such visor could be seen on this helmet, and Hux wondered if Ren could even ride safely wearing it. Between the alien-looking helmet, the all black ensemble (black leather jacket, black pants, black combat boots), and the enormous machine growling between his legs, Ren cut quite the intimidating figure.

Despite the many layers he wore under his thick grey peacoat, Hux felt extremely small standing next to his silver Chrysler sedan compared to Ren on his bike.

"Hmm?" he asked, opening the door of his car and tossing his bag on the passenger seat.

"Why...do...you...have...that...drive?"

Hux rolled his eyes at the condescending tone before answering. "The printer's can't send someone to pick it up, so I'm going to drop it off before heading home."

He was about to get in his car when Ren kicked his bike's...stand? Hux wasn't sure what it was called, and was genuinely trying to come up with the right word when Ren walked over to him.

"Give it to me," Ren said flatly, putting up his leather-gloved hand palm side up. "I'll bring it to them."

"Ren, it's fine," Hux insisted, holding the drive hanging on his neck in his fist like he was protecting it. "I don't mind the drive, and I was the one who made a promise to the client."

"He's _my_ client, they're _my_ photos, and it's _on my way_." Ren was starting to sound impatient.

Hux furrowed his brow, recalling Ren's employee file. "You don't even live anywhere near them."

"Who even says I'm going home?" Ren gritted out exasperatedly. Hux wondered if he was wearing his usual scowl underneath the helmet. "Just give me the damn flash drive, Hux!"

When Ren's hand actually grabbed the lanyard, Hux relented, pushing him away first.

"Okay, okay! Jesus!"

He pulled the lanyard over his head and handed it to Ren, who took it and walked back to his bike without another word. 

Hux followed him out of the parking lot, and it wasn't until they drove off in opposite directions that he realized he hadn't thanked Ren.  


* * *

  
_And the heart is hard to translate_  
_It has a language of its own_  
_It talks in tongues and quiet sighs,_  
_And prayers and proclamations_  
_In the grand days of great men and the smallest of gestures_  
_And short shallow gasps_  


* * *

  


**Author's Note:**

> \---
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](http://the-fluff-awakens.tumblr.com/) and ask why I've done this.


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